Brassiere



G. DAVIS BRASSIERE Aug. 2, 1955 Filed Oct. 14, 1952 Imago, ma? .Davis United States Patent O BRASSIERE Gertrude Davis, London, England, assignor to Daintifyt Brassiere Company Limited, London, England Application October 14, 1952, Serial No. 314,707

Claims priority, application Great Britain October 26, 1951 3 Claims. (Cl. 2-42) This invention consists in a brassiere having means whereby each shoulder strap may be detachably secured at any of a number of positions along the upper part of the respective cup member.

Thus, the appropriate end of the shoulder strap may be attached to a hook, clip, buckle or the like, and the upper edge of the cup members of the brassiere may be secured to means for temporarily engaging the hook, clip, buckle or the like at any one of a variety of positions along the edge.

Alternatively, the respective ends of the shoulder straps may be constructed so that they can be formed temporarily into loops, for example, by providing an eyelet hole or series of eyelet holes towards the end of a shoulder strap and a small hook at the end of the shoulder strap for engaging in the eyelet hole, the upper edge of the cup members of the brassiere being secured to means affording a variety of positions along the edge through which the shoulder strap can be looped.

Conveniently, each cup member extends into a half belt adapted to fasten at the rear of the wearer, and the aforesaid means extends at least part way along each such half belt, so that both ends of the shoulder straps may be detachably secured at any of a number of positions along the upper part of the brassiere. In a preferred construction, the cup members are formed separately from one another and means such as loop edging or pocketed tape, adapted to be engaged by a hook, such as a detachable link, extend along the upper and inner edges of the two members, each being then laced together by ribbon, silk cord or the like passing through portions of the aforesaid means where a hook could have been engaged.

Brassieres constructed in accordance with this invention are distinguished from those previously made or suggested having an upper lace or like trimming not merely in the provision of a hook, clip, buckle or the like on the shoulder strap or means for forming the end of the strap into a loop, but also by the fact that any means positioned along the upper edge of the cup members for the purpose of providing attachment for the shoulder strap must be of adequate strength, ordinary lace trimming failing in this respect.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one embodiment of the invention, of which Figure 1 is a front view of the brassiere laid out at,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating the lacing together of the cup members,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view illustrating the attachment of a shoulder strap, and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view on a greatly enlarged scale showing the construction of the upper edging.

The brassiere comprises two cup members 1 each merging into a half belt 2, one of which has an elastic extension 3 terminating in a buckle member 4. Loop edging 5,

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which is shown diagrammatically in Figures 1-3 and in detail in Figure 4, is attached along the upper and inner edge of each cup member 1 and the upper edge of each half belt 2, the edging being formed along one edge of tape 6 (Figure 4) secured to the inner surface of the brassiere by. stitching 7. The edging comprises interwoven loops 8 of threads interwoven with an outer cord 9.

Two shoulder straps 10 are provided, attached at each end to what is known in the art as a detachable link 11 adapted to hook into edging 5. Lacing 12 serves to secure cups 1 together.

The preferred embodiments of this invention are distinguished from known brassieres with an upper lace trimming not only in the manner described above but also in that the loop edging, pocketed tape or like edging extends along the inner edge of the cup members, with the aid of which the cup members are laced together. The preferred type of loop edging is that which may be described as ribbon-hole braid, one form of which is illustrated in Figure 4.

Whilst brassieres constructed in accordance with this invention will normally be separate articles, their temporary or permanent attachment to other garments is not precluded. For example, they may be detachably or permanently secured to the upper parts of swim suits or sunbathing dresses.

I claim:

1. A brassiere comprising two bust-supporting cup members secured together in laterally-adjacent relation, a half-belt section integrally secured to each cup member, said half-belt sections extending in opposite directions from the cup members to which they are secured whereby their free ends are adapted to be positioned at the back of the wearer when the brassiere is worn, means for detachably connecting the free ends of the half belt sections at the back of the wearer, edging material extending along the upper edge of the cup members, a shoulder strap attached to and extending between each cup member and its respective half-belt section, and detachable means between the shoulder straps and the cup members comprising fastening means provided upon the ends of the shoulder straps interengageable with companion fastening means located at laterally-spaced intervals lengthwise along the edging material at the top of the cup members.

2. A brassiere as set forth in claim 1 in which the edging material comprises ribbon-hole braid defining a series of closely spaced openings throughout the length of the braid, and cooperating fastening means secured to the ends of the straps for entering said openings and detachably supporting the brassiere.

3. A brassiere as set forth in claim 1 wherein the edging material extends along opposed edges of the two laterallyadjacent cup members and includes a lacing passing through openings in said edging material for normally securing the cup members together while permitting the separation of the brassiere into two counterpart sections.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,264,337 Scognamillo Apr. 30, 1918 1,363,038 Gottlieb Dec. 21, 1920 1,437,123 Weichman Nov. 28, 1922 1,616,267 Laird Feb. l, 1927 2,511,080 Rosenbaum June 13, 1950 2,595,139 Hart Apr. 29, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 451,242 France Feb. 8,1913

810,781 France Ian. 6, 1937 

